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51 lotl.com • LOTL Magazine TRAVEL visitors, many of whom have never heard of Sap- pho. And then when it's too hot even for the sun wor- shippers, it's off to the nearby beach bar, Kantina Moon, run by the lovely Maria. She welcomes eve- ryone with a warm, "Yassou mora mou." "Hi baby!" However, she has her rules. If you don't speak Greek, you don't eat. So you learn fast and then you get to sit in the shade with the cool sand between your toes, or lie in a hammock, and eat freshly made Greek salad and savour ice cold Mythos beer. I spent many an afternoon there, looking out to the blue Aegean, listening to people stumble their way through their order in Greek, and thinking there wasn't anywhere else I would rather be. And now we come to the sex. To quote Lisa, an English staff member from the popular Tenth Muse café and bar: "A lot of copping off happens here. " As an Australian, I had to ask for a translation. "There's a lot of bed hopping," is one way of putting it. Or, "There's lots of women picking up other women." And let's face it, there are lots of opportunities. There's a women-only hotel in the village, the Mas- cot Hotel, so the chance of meeting another lesbian over breakfast is pretty high there. One of the best ways to observe this "copping off" phenomenon is to simply sit at the cafés and bars, particularly those that are lesbian owned and run (and there are at least three of them), and watch the passing trafﬁc. Women you’ve noticed wander- ing around the village by themselves are suddenly wandering around with a woman in their hip pocket. There's also a wonderful lesbian-run venue, Sap- pho Garden of the Arts, where women gather most nights of the week for a variety of events including quiz nights, karaoke, cabaret, and performances by visiting musicians. It's another gathering of the na- tions, which is pretty exciting for an Aussie who lives in Perth, the most isolated capital city of the world. I joined a table one night and the head count was: four Norwegian women, one German, one Dane, and two English. To my relief, in large groups like this everyone reverts to English (or in my mono-lingual case, sticks to it). According to regulars who've been coming here for a few years now, the pace picks up in September when a two week Women’s Festival draws an even bigger crowd to Skala Eressos. Since 2000, the fes- tival has been run by local business, Sappho Travel. One estimate put the income ﬁgure for the town over the two week period at €450,000. It means some business owners earn enough money in that period to pay the rent on their business for the rest of the year. There's a range of events during the two weeks including music, performances by visiting artists, sporting events including the popular swim to the rock (a small island just offshore), sunset cruises and local guided walks. And that's just the outdoor fun and games ... But all good things must come to an end. As a ﬁrst time visitor who left Skala Eressos in July as the temperature hit 40 degrees celsius, it was hard to believe that all this frivolity and loveliness ceases as winter approaches. Most businesses close down, the locals move 4km back up the road to the village of Eressos, the beachfront restaurants batten down and the owners hope the winter seas don't wash away too much beach, taking their verandahs with it. You missed the boat (or the Greek ferry) for this year's festival. But there's always next year! Go to womensfestival.eu and sapphotravel.com.